Financial Aid Policies

Awarding

Once a student has been accepted for admission and submitted all documentation
necessary to determine financial aid eligibility, a financial aid award package
is constructed.
The amount and type of financial aid for which the student qualifies, in most
cases, is determined by the results of his/her Free Application for Federal Student
Aid (FAFSA), which determines the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) that the student
and his/her family should be able to contribute toward the student's college expenses.
The EFC is deducted from your Cost of Attendance to determine the student's demonstrated
financial need.
The Financial Aid Office attempts to meet as much of a student's financial need
and direct costs (tuition, books, and room and board, if residing on campus) with a combination
of grants, scholarships, loans, and student employment programs. In constructing
a financial aid award, full-time enrollment is assumed. (See Enrollment and Attendance
Requirements for more information on enrollment statuses.) When constructing a financial aid award package, the Financial Aid Office evaluates
eligibility for individual federal, state and institutional programs. Eligibility
for grants and scholarships are considered before loans and student employment
programs are offered. Some financial aid programs have limited funding; therefore,
these programs are awarded to students with the greatest need on a first-come,
first serve basis until all available funds are depleted.

After your financial aid package is completed, you will receive an email notification
that your financial aid award is available.
The notification will include instructions on accessing your award on our secure
website, MyLC.
If an e-mail address is not available or the student opted-out of electronic communication,
the award letter will be mailed in duplicate to the student's permanent mailing
address.
A link to Understanding Your Financial Aid
Award Letter, which contains information on maintaining financial aid eligibility and individual
program requirements is included and should be read before accepting the financial
aid award.
After reviewing the financial aid award, the student will have an opportunity
to accept, decline, or reduce each financial aid program included in the award.

Awards
from Outside Sources

When determining eligibility for need-based financial aid programs, private
scholarships and grants must be considered. If the student expects to receive scholarship
assistance from a source other than LaGrange College, it must be reported to the
Financial Aid Office.
Adjustments to the student's financial aid award may be necessary according to
his/her financial need and program guidelines. Typically, need-based loan assistance
is reduced first, if necessary.

Enrollment
and Attendance Requirements

The amount of financial aid you can receive for a semester or quarter is
based on your enrollment status at the end of the drop/add period and class attendance. Federal regulations mandate that only courses required for your
degree program be used in determining your enrollment status for financial aid
purposes. It is also important to note that as a financial aid recipient federal student
aid regulations permit only one repetition (repeat) of a previously passed course in determining your enrollment status.
(See " Repeated
Course Limitation " below) The chart below reflects the minimum credit hours required for financial
aid recipients to be considered full-time, three-quarter or half-time during a
semester.

Enrollment
Status

Full-Time

3/4
time*

Half-time

Undergraduate

12

9

6

Graduate

6 or more

N/A

3

*Only applies to
Federal Pell Grant

Regular
class attendance is required to establish eligibility for your financial
aid award. If it is determined that a student's attendance in a course(s) cannot be documented
by the instructor(s), the student will not receive financial aid for the course(s).
As a result, the student's financial aid award will be cancelled or reduced to
reflect the courses in which attendance was established. The student will be responsible
for repaying any financial assistance for which he/she is deemed ineligible. Failure
to resolve the overpayment can result in your ineligibility for future financial
assistance at any college or university until the overpayment is resolved.

Financial aid is awarded under the assumption that the student will attend
school for the entire academic year or semester for which financial assistance
was awarded. The financial aid award of a student who does not enroll for a semester
will be canceled and all funds returned to the applicable financial aid programs.

Repeated
Course Limitations

Financial aid funds are expected to be used to cover those courses required to complete a student's chosen major. Effective July 1, 2011, a previously passed
course may only be repeated once and be counted as credit in determining a student's
enrollment status (full-time, part-time, etc.). Any repetition of a class after
passing it the second time, will not count in the student's enrollment status.

Withdrawal
Procedures

Occasionally, it may be necessary to withdraw from an individual course or from
all classes in a semester/quarter. If this should be necessary, it is the student's
responsibility to initiate the withdrawal by contacting the Source Center.

If the student fails to follow the withdrawal process, financial aid awards
for subsequent terms of enrollment will be canceled. It will be the student's responsibility
to contact the Financial Aid Office to request financial aid if he/she returns
to school during the academic year for which aid was originally offered. It should
be noted that the financial aid award will be based on available funds at the time
of the request.

In the event you completely withdraw (officially or unofficially) from school
before the sixty percent (60%) point in time of the term, a refund calculation must be performed to determine
the amount of financial assistance that the student earned for the portion of the
semester completed. Funds received that are greater than the amount earned must
be returned by LaGrange College and the student to the financial aid programs funding his/her education. Failure to do so can
result in the student's ineligibility for future financial assistance.

If at any time you are considering dropping courses or changing your enrollment
status, you should consult the Financial Aid Office before making a final decision
to determine the effect on your financial aid eligibility.

Return to Title IV Refund and LaGrange
College Fee Refund Policies

Financial
aid funds are awarded with the expectation that the student will attend classes
for the entire term for which the assistance was awarded.In the event a student withdraws or ceases
attendance in all registered classes in a term, the student may not be eligible
for the full amount of financial aid that was originally disbursed.The Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended
in 1998, require institutions to calculate a Return to Title IV Refund and a
Refund of Institutional charges when a student withdraws or otherwise ceases
attendance after beginning classes.These calculations determine if the student earned all the awarded aid
and if the student is due a refund on assessed institutional charges for the
term.The Return of Title IV Funds Policy
applies to Federal aid such as Federal Pell Grant, SEOG, Direct Stafford Loan,
Perkins Loan, Direct PLUS, and TEACH Grant.LaGrange College also applies the same policy to State and Institutional
aid programs.

The
Return of Title IV Refund applies only to students who completely withdraw from
all registered classes after beginning attendance.This policy does not apply if the student
withdraws from an individual course but not all classes in a term or if the
student never began class attendance.

LaGrange
College Withdrawal Process and Effective Date

It is the responsibility of the student to
initiate a complete withdrawal from the College. The withdrawal date for refund calculation
purposes will be the date the student initiated or expressed his/her intention
to withdraw from all courses by
notifying the Source Center, located on the first floor of Smith Hall. It is recommended that the student consult
with the Financial Aid Office to determine the impact a withdrawal may have on
future financial aid eligibility.

A
student who receives grades of W or F in ALL classes and is determined to have ceased
attendance before the end of the term will be considered an unofficially withdrawal.In the event of an unofficial withdrawal, the
Financial Aid Office will contact the instructor to obtain a last date of
attendance at an academic related activity.The withdrawal date will be the later of the last date of attendance
documented by the instructor or the midpoint of the term, if a date cannot be
determined.

LaGrange
College Institutional Refund Policy

Based
on the date of withdrawal, you may be eligible for a full or partial refund of
your charges for the term.The Business
Office will apply the College’s Refund Policy to determine if a refund is due—see
refund details below.A student who
completely withdraws from all classes can receive a refund up to the 60% point
of the term which is measured in calendar days not business days.Any withdrawal after the 60% point will not
result in any adjustment to fee charges.This refund policy will not impact the Return of Title IV Refund
calculation but does affect the amount of money a student may owe to the College as result of the withdrawal.The College’s refund policies for the refund
of tuition, fees, room and board are described below.

Tuition
and Fees Refund Policy

Tuition,
course related fees, and books purchased through the College will be refunded
on a prorated basis measured by the number of calendar days the student
attended up to the date of withdrawal divided by the number of days in the
term.Federal regulations require that
any break of 5 days or more be excluded from the number of days in the
term.The begin date of a term is
defined by the academic calendar of the program, even if the student does not
have a scheduled class on that date, and ends on the last day of final exams.Parking permits, student health insurance,
and testing fees are non-refundable.The
resulting percentage is used to determine the amount of tuition and fee charges
the College earned.The difference in
the original refundable tuition and fees less the amount earned by LaGrange
College will be credited to the student’s account as unearned fee charges.

Room and
Board Refund Policy

There
is no refund on campus housing (the room charge) once the student has taken
occupancy of campus owned residential housing.Board charges (meal plans) will be prorated at a rate of $15 per
calendar day of attendance.

Return
of Title IV Refund Policy

In
the event of a complete withdrawal, the Financial Aid Office must calculate the
amount of Federal, State, and Institutional financial aid the student earned as
of the date of withdrawal.Any financial
aid that exceeds the earned amount must be returned as unearned aid to the
respective federal program from which it originated.LaGrange College and the student are jointly
responsible for returning the unearned aid.The College applies the same policy to state and institutional aid awarded.

The
amount of Federal aid earned is determined by dividing the
number of calendar days the student attended prior to withdrawal by the number
of calendar days in the term, excluding any break of 5 days or more.The number of days in the term begins on the
first day of classes as indicated on the academic calendar of the program, even
if the student does not have a scheduled class on the first day of the term,
and ends on the last day of final exams.(The Return of Title IV Refund
Policy applies to students that withdraw on or before the 60% point of the
term.Therefore, if the resulting
percentage is greater than 60%, the student is considered to have earned all disbursed
aid and no adjustment to financial aid programs is required.)If the resulting percentage is less than or
equal to 60%, the amount of federal aid awarded for the term will be multiplied
by the percentage to determine the amount of aid earned.The earned amount will be subtracted from the
original disbursed aid to determine the unearned aid that must be returned to
the applicable financial aid programs.The portion of the unearned aid LaGrange College must return is
determined by multiplying the original refundable institutional fee charges by the
unearned percentage.LaGrange College
must return the unearned aid, for which it is responsible, in the following
order:

1.Unsubsidized
Direct Stafford Loan 2.Subsidized
Direct Stafford Loan

3.Perkins
Loan

4.Direct
PLUS Loan (Graduate Student)

5.Direct
PLUS Loan (Parent)

6.Federal
Pell Grant

7.SEOG

8.TEACH
Grant

9.Other
Title IV Aid

10.State,
Institutional, and private assistance programs

11.Student

If
the school portion of the unearned aid is less than the total unearned aid that
must be returned to the financial aid programs, the student will be responsible
for returning those funds and paying any balance created from the complete
withdrawal. The student will receive a
notification from the Financial Aid Office detailing the aid returned by the
College and any aid for which the student is responsible for repaying. The Business Office will send a statement of
any account balance due.

The
Student portion of the Return of Title IV Aid is calculated by subtracting
amount of unearned aid repaid by LaGrange College from the total unearned aid. Depending on the remaining program sources of
aid due a refund after the school portion is applied, the student portion is
distributed as follows:

·If
the funds must be returned to a loan
program, the student will repay those funds under the terms and conditions
of the loan program when the student enters repayment. The student will not be billed for loan funds
that must be returned as a result of a refund calculation upon withdrawal.

·If
funds are due to a federal grant program,
the student will be responsible for repaying 50% of the refund due to the grant
program. This adjustment is made in an
effort to reduce the impact of withdrawing on students receiving grant
assistance. LaGrange College will return
these funds on the student’s behalf but the student is responsible for
reimbursing the College.

Refund
of State and Institutional Grants

Students
receiving non-federal aid are required to return any unearned aid received from
these programs. Funds will be returned
in the following order:

1.HOPE/Zell
Miller Scholarship

2.Georgia
Tuition Equalization Grant

3.LaGrange
College Grants/Scholarships

4.LaGrange
College Tuition Courtesy and Discounts

Withdrawals
and Future Financial Aid Eligibility

Withdrawal
from classes can impact a student’s eligibility for financial aid. Financial aid recipients must maintain
Satisfactory Academic Progress for continued eligibility for financial aid
programs. A recipient of student loans
may have to begin repayment on his/her Federal Loan. If the student fails to make required loan
payments, the student can go in to default, which makes the student ineligible
for future financial aid. Also, if a student
owes a refund to a federal grant or state grant, these funds must be repaid
before further financial aid can be received.